The United States Department of Defense announced this Saturday the intensification of joint training of Japanese, American and Australian troops in northern Australia to strengthen ties between the three powers from 2025, within the framework of their “unwavering commitment with the strengthening of collective deterrence”.
“We are united in our firm commitment to a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, where the rule of law is upheld, sovereignty is respected and nations can make decisions free of coercion or threats of force,” said the Secretary of State. US Defense, Lloyd Austin, and his counterparts from Australia and Japan, Richard Marles and Nakatani Gen, respectively.
In this context, the three have committed to improving their defense cooperation in favor of “regional stability and collective deterrence”, focusing on the “expansion of trilateral operational cooperation”, the development of “advanced capabilities “and joint planning and increasing its presence in the region.
One of the key steps to achieve this purpose has been the establishment of the so-called ‘Trilateral Defense Consultations’ that will allow “the alignment of policies and operational objectives (…) on security issues and regional contingencies.”
Austin highlighted that, to this end, Japan will have greater participation “in force posture cooperation activities between Australia and the United States”, which will result in annual trilateral amphibious training and an increase in its contribution in ” more complex scenarios”, among others.
AN “INCREASING VARIETY OF THREATS”
Likewise, the triad will give priority to subjects related to issues such as intelligence and surveillance or the development of composite aerospace materials and autonomous systems.
“Our countries intend to continue working together to strengthen regional deterrence, including through cooperation on a networked air and missile defense architecture to counter the growing variety of threats across the Indo-Pacific,” they said in their joint brief. .
In this sense, Austin, Marles and Nakatani have opted for “a deeper exchange of information” with which “to improve the capacity of each country to respond to threats”, in addition to maintaining other activities such as trilateral training, exercises and the exchanges. The inaugural trilateral regional live-fire air and missile defense event at Exercise TALISMAN SABER 2027 will be a key milestone.
Washington, Tokyo and Canberra have committed, finally, to “enhance maritime domain awareness between Australia, Japan, India and the United States in the Indo-Pacific” also starting next year, “recognizing India’s leadership role in conceptualizing the idea of closer collaboration in maritime surveillance” and with “the intention of deepening cooperation with Pacific island countries.”
